The SavvyBostonianMusings of a published author and passionate traveler2016-08-19T12:10:20Zhttp://www.thesavvybostonian.com/feed/atom/WordPressadminhttp://www.thesavvybostonian.com/?p=43262016-07-24T10:08:05Z2016-07-21T18:34:04ZThis week, I went “rogue” and decided to invent my own quinoa recipe. Packed full of some of my favorites – black beans, mango, green beans, bbq, feta and quinoa – this recipe is great when cooking for a group, or portioning into individual tupperware containers for workweek lunches.

Start by making the quinoa. I always recommend following the directions on the package, but my usual is one cup quinoa for two cups water. Bring the quinoa to a boil and then put on a low/medium simmer until the water has evaporated.

While the quinoa is cooking, steam the green beans in the microwave or stovetop. Allow the green beans to cool and then chop them into bite sized pieces.

Then, separately steam the corn on the stovetop or microwave. Allow to cool.

Next, chop one fresh mango. Set aside.

Once the quinoa is finished, combine with the lemon, extra virgin olive oil, coriander, bbq sauce, salt and pepper. Incorporate veggies and fruit one by one and stir. Add in the feta last.

Then, enjoy! This can easily be re-heated throughout the week, but won’t last longer than one week. To turn this into a heartier meal, add spinach or kale, top with one egg, a bit of chicken or ground beef. This is a great way to make a vat of food more exiting throughout the week – especially if you’re cooking for one.

]]>0adminhttp://www.thesavvybostonian.com/?p=44332016-07-24T20:52:48Z2016-07-15T20:02:39ZAs an expat in London, one of the top questions I get from friends and family (and their friends and family many times removed) is what to see and do when coming to London. And, let’s be fair – I don’t blame them! Recommendations from people you trust are a huge advantage when traveling. With my family coming to London for 7 days, there was no better time to put my curated list of restaurants, hotels and attractions to the test. Check out my curated 7-day itinerary and let your travel planning begin!

Before I dive right in, let’s cover off on two important things: the weather and seasonal events.

The Weather
I highly recommend having a plan A and B for each day depending on the weather forecast. While it does not rain every day in London, should you find yourself with literal ‘wash out’ type day, have a running list of indoor events like the theatre, museums and fun restaurants/bars to try to occupy your time in a productive way. Some of my favorite museums include the Victoria & Albert, Saatchi Gallery, Tate Modern, but honestly – they’re all awesome. Bonus: many are free.

Yes, there is sunshine in London! :)

Seasonal Events
London is jam-packed with fun events during the summer months. In May you can go to the Little Venice Cavalcade and June ushers in fun events like Chesterton’s Polo in the Park, Royal Ascot (polo), Taste of Regent’s Park Food Festival, Henley Royal Regatta and Wimbledon, which carries into July. In July, Buckingham Palace also opens up for the summer – definitely pre-book tickets as soon as they come out. Do yourself a favor and check sites like TimeOut for the latest fun events and pop-up shops to catch a special or seasonal event.

Little Venice Cavalcade

My family came in early June, so the 7-day travel itinerary below reflects several seasonal events, but also attractions that would be worthwhile any time of year.

Day One: Jet-Lagged and Fabulous

If you’re coming over from the United States on a red eye, the first day is the hardest. I personally cannot sleep on flights – even in the first class lay down beds – so my first day back is always rough (and I average about 6-8 trips back and forth from the US-UK annually).

Learn from my mistakes and don’t over extend yourself on day one. By the time you land, go through customs and get into the city, it will be lunchtime. If you can tough it out and make it to 8pm or later, you’re in for the best night’s sleep of your life.

To get into the city, both Heathrow and Gatwick have express trains, which I highly recommend. I typically fly in/out of Heathrow for convenience to my flat and the Heathrow Express train takes 15-20 minutes to Paddington Station, after which I hop in a black cab (taxi) after. While it’s definitely more pricey than the tube, you’re paying for speed, comfort and no chance of lugging bags up stairs should the tube station not have a lift or escalators. Plus, a black cab from Heathrow into the city is really expensive (Uber is a lot cheaper!) and often not worth the price unless you’re with a group.

Once you’re checked in and have freshened up, stretch your legs with a walk around the neighborhood you’re staying in. Before you leave for your trip, research a fantastic, or convenient place for lunch ahead of time. My favorite spots can be found in my ultimate London guide. After lunch, go for a good walk.

A charming park in Mayfair

On this trip, my family was stayed at the Hilton Park Lane, which was amazing. They had the best service and would highly recommend it. I should caveat this with the fact that they have Hilton Honors Gold status and were traveling for a special occasion so got tons of sweet perks like access to the executive lounge with free breakfast, all-day free coffee/tea/beverages and a free nightly happy hour with a very generous assortment of food.

The view from my parent’s hotel room

As the Hilton Park Lane is in Mayfair, we took a 10-minute walk to a casual but lovely Italian restaurant in the neighborhood called Delfino’s, which has thin-crust pizzas and over-sized salads. One pizza and one salad was plenty for us, leaving room for cappuccinos and tiramisu for dessert. After a late lunch, we walked around Mayfair, before exhaustion gave in and it was time to call it a night.

The amazing seafood salad at Delfino’s

Day Two: Sightseeing or Bust!

After what’s hopefully an amazing night’s sleep, get ready to pound the pavement. While many people do the hop-on, hop-off bus tours, it’s actually not that hard to walk your way through many of London’s top sights (providing, of course, that you’re up for 7 or so miles of walking). If walking is not your thing, save yourself the pain and hop on the bus tour. If not, here’s how we walked our way around London!

We started at the Hilton Park Lane in Mayfair where my family stayed. From there, we walked through the beautiful Green Park to say hello to the Queen (as you do) at Buckingham Palace. Be prepared for throngs of tourists, but fight your way into a good spot and snap a little photo opp!

Buckingham Palace Gates

Continue on to nearby St. James’s Park, which is another lovely little park with a waterway and flowers, before heading over to Westminster Abbey, Parliament and Big Ben to see some of London’s most iconic sights.

Once you’ve seen Big Ben, fight the urge to cross the bridge to the other side of the Thames. Stay on the same side of the river as Big Ben and walk down to nearby Embankment Bridge. If you go up the stairs on the right hand side of the bridge (as if you’re facing the London Eye), you will be rewarded with a fantastic photo opp of both Big Ben and The London Eye separated by the Thames River.

By now, if you’re anything like us, you’re probably in need of a break. Once you’ve crossed over Embankment Bridge to the bustling South Bank you will be rewarded with a few good lunch options. We opted for a classic favorite – Le Pain Quotidien and gobbled up eggs, salad, toast with their decadent chocolate spreads and more coffee. Pro tip: always ask for their decadent chocolate spreads if your meal comes with bread. You won’t regret it!

Once full and rested, continue walking along the South Bank. On a nice day it’s great to walk along the water and take in the many impressive buildings on the other side. We walked all the way down to Borough Market, which is another great spot for a snack, meal or drink. I personally love to get a fresh watermelon juice, but as the weather was a bit chilly (yes, in June, ugh!), we popped into the Hilton Tower Bridge, which has a casual yet stylish ground floor bar and fairly reasonably priced drinks for London. If you’re looking for something a touch grander, go over to the nearby Shard, where the drinks are a touch pricey, but the views of the city are fantastic.

After another rest, we stopped at a viewing stand for the iconic Tower Bridge, which is literally behind the hotel, to snap a few more touristy photos.

Then, it was over to Marylebone on the Tube (about 20 minutes) for a delicious dinner at Opso, one of my favorite Greek restaurants in London. Pro tip: make sure to book in advance.

Day Three: Game On at Wimbledon!

After a fun day of sightseeing, we spent our day three exploring the Wimbledon Tennis & Lawn Museum. Yes, this is where the famous Wimbledon tennis tournament is played! We love tennis and took a bit of a chance committing most of our day over in Wimbledon, but it was well worth it.

In order to book the tour, you need to visit this website, where you can reserve your spot online and then pay on-site. The museum asks that you arrive 30 minutes before your tour begins, during which time you can explore the museum and gift shop. The tour lasts about 2 hours and is very informative, but does require going up and down a lot of stairs, so be aware if that’s an issue for you.

I highly recommend taking the tube out to Wimbledon – the station closest to the facility is actually called Southfields. It took us about 35 minutes on the tube from the Hilton Park Lane in Mayfair and was so easy. Once at Southfields station, it is a 15-minute walk to the museum, or catch the 493 bus, which takes you directly there.

Following a fun day at Wimbledon, I planned a fun Saturday night in Soho, starting with a lovely dinner at Wright Brothers Soho, where we feasted on fresh seafood, followed by cocktails at oh-so-chic Berners Tavern, which is less than 10 minutes away walking. For Wright Brothers Soho, definitely book in advance, but you can just walk into Berners Tavern, but it is first-come, first-served in the seated bar area.

Delicious food at Wright Brothers Soho

Wright Brothers Soho

Berners Tavern

Great cocktails!

Day Four: Parks and Polo

With incredible weather – sunny and warm – our day four was 100% an outside day. Which is great timing, as I booked another seasonal event for us – Chesterton’s Polo in the Park. However, as it was the Sunday portion of the event, a family day runs until 1:30pm and the polo match does not start until 2pm, so we decided to explore Holland Park first.

Holland Park is another gem of a park in London. There’s a great little Japanese garden and a separate small, yet beautifully appointed English garden with manicured hedges, flowers, fountains and sculptures that makes for a lovely little stroll. Also really amazing? Live peacocks roam the gardens! Don’t be surprised if you hear the unmistakably loud squawk of the peacocks, as they can also fly their way up to vantage points like a tree or a one of the buildings.

Next, it was off to Polo in the Park at the Hurlingham Club in Parsons Green. Polo in the Park is hosted annually in early June over a Friday – Sunday. If you’re looking for a party atmosphere, Saturday is your day. It always sells out and tends to include quite a bit of drinking. However, if are with your family, I would recommend Friday or Sunday. If you’re a family with kids, go Sunday morning.

Polo in the Park is not as formal as London’s more famous polo event, Royal Ascot, where you need to wear hats and very proper knee-length dresses. I’d describe Polo in the Park as summer garden party chic for women, such as a sundress and wedges. For men, khaki’s, a collared shirt, sport coat and loafers are perfect, but some men also do wear jeans.

After an incredibly fun day at the polo, we were all so tired that my family opted for the Hilton Executive Lounge and their generous happy hour before calling it an early night.

Day Five: Shopping And My Favorite London Park

With the warm weather streak continuing in our favor, we decided to spend a leisurely day in Marylebone, starting with the charming Marylebone High Street. The street makes for a perfect hour or two of strolling and shopping, with a number of boutiques and global brands. We popped into The White Company, Caroline Gardner, J.Crew, Athropologie, Skandium, Daunt Books, Oliver Bonas, and more.

After a healthy amount of shopping, we were lucky to snag a seat at the chic Ivy Café in Marylebone. From innovative mocktails, to oversized salads, and more, it was the perfect place for a leisurely lunch.

Once re-fueled, we took to Regent’s Park, my absolute favorite park in London. I actually consider it to be my “happy place.” If you visit, you must explore the Inner Circle with the Japanese Koi Garden and the Queen’s Garden, London’s largest rose garden with more then more than 12,000 roses of 400 varieties. It’s unlike anything that I have ever seen, and it blows me away every time I visit.

Also not to be missed are the Avenue Gardens section of the park, which is adjacent to the Inner Circle. Spend time exploring the expertly manicured mix of flowers, hedges and fountains. It’s pure magic, an oasis of clam and beauty and you feel completely removed from the rest of London.

After a brunch and then late lunch, we were not keen for a big dinner and opted to call it an early night.

Day Six: Kensington Palace and The Saatchi Gallery

To mix it up a bit, we started our sixth day with a visit to another famous London palace called Kensington Palace. Fun fact: it also happens to be the home to Will, Cate and Harry, but there are parts of the Palace you can tour.

Our tour included the Fashion Rules exhibit, Victoria Revealed, the King and Queen’s State Apartments, and more, all of which were very interesting. Immediately after, we took to the adjacent Kensington Palace Gardens, which are divine! Plus, visiting the Shrunken Gardens is totally free. While you cannot go inside the actual Shrunken Gardens, there are a number of little windows into them that make for fun photo opps. Plus, I absolutely loved strolling through the trellised exterior of the garden. Completely covered in ivy arches, there’s a magical secret garden-eqsue feeling to it.

Following a morning of culture, we strolled over to nearby Aubaine on Kensington High Street for a healthy lunch of over-sized salads and sparkling water. Aubaine has locations all over the city and serves all meals – breakfast, lunch, dinner.

After lunch, we took the path less traveled with a leisurely stroll through Kensington and Chelsea on the way to The Saatchi Gallery. Pro tip: Kensington and Chelsea are very safe and the small streets are filled with charming homes, so it’s a great opportunity to go off the main streets and meander your way through.

Don’t have phone access? My best tip is to create a Google map and star all of the locations you plan to see in a city. When you’re on wi-fi at your hotel, pull up the map, preferably on the Google Maps App, and stretch and expand in the areas you plan to visit that day. Keep the browser or app open and even if you don’t have data on, the blue dot on your phone will show you where you are, resulting in a very efficient map!

While The Saatchi Gallery typically is free and has interesting modern art on display, during my parent’s visit it was completely taken over by The Rolling Stones exhibit, appropriately called Exhibitionism, and did have an entry charge. We purposely went to see the exhibit and it was a wonderful way to spend two hours. With so much of the Rolling Stones music playing, videos, historical tidbits, it was wonderful.

Following the exhibit, we had drinks at The Gallery Mess, the bar/restaurant for the museum followed by dinner at Polpo, a lovely Venetian small plates restaurant in Duke of York Square.

Day Seven: The Last Hurrah

After such an epic trip, we decided to keep the last day low key. The weather was a bit rainy, so walked over to Notting Hill so my family could see Portobello Road. My parents love the movie Notting Hill, so spotting the locations where they filmed the movie was fun. After, we walked over to one of my favorite brunch spots, 202 London, for delicious scrambled eggs and pancakes.

Scrambled eggs, mushrooms and toast at 202 London

Raspberry vanilla pancakes with crème fraîche

After a hearty brunch, we were off to Hyde Park for one last stroll before my parents caught their trip home.

For more of my London recommendations across hotels, restaurants, bars, attractions, and more, check out my Ultimate London Guide.

]]>1adminhttp://www.thesavvybostonian.com/?p=44242016-06-17T00:22:07Z2016-06-16T23:50:34ZWhether you’re a local or a tourist, I’ve created my ultimate London guide to share my favorite London travel guides, hotels, restaurants and other must-see attractions. I have lived in London since January 2015 and this guide will be updated periodically as I explore and review new places in London. The ‘London Guide’ lives on the top header bar of my blog, but can also be found here: http://www.thesavvybostonian.com/london-guide/.

Check it out and as always, I appreciate your recommendations for good places to try!

]]>0adminhttp://www.thesavvybostonian.com/?p=43122016-06-11T23:15:37Z2016-06-12T10:00:50ZWhen I was a child, my mother could not get me to eat anything besides hot dogs and mac ‘n’ cheese. As an adult, my culinary preferences could not be more opposite. I crave healthier, whole foods and love tucking into a massive, satisfying salad. Inspired by the left overs in my fridge, here is a quick and easy salad that I whipped up recently over the weekend featuring kale, sweet potato, avocado and grilled chicken.

Start by placing washed and chopped kale on a plate. If you don’t like raw kale, you can massage 1 tsp of extra virgin olive oil into the greens, or sautee lightly on the stove top and add a bit of salt & pepper.

As this is happening, bring a pot of water to a boil on the stovetop to cook the peas. Once the water is boiling, they only need 1-2 minutes to be ready. You can also steam in the microwave by putting a small bowl of peas with a plate on top – both microwave safe, thank you ;).

Warm and sprinkle chopped grilled chicken strips on top of the kale. Top with sweet potatoes, peas, avocado and dried cranberries.

In a small bowl or ramekin, mix the extra virgin olive oil, dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper. I usually whisk and stick my pinkie finger in the see if the taste is right. Add in maple syrup to taste as needed and tinker with spices as needed to get the right ratio.

Top the salad with dressing (I just like to drizzle over the top), but some prefer to massage or sauté the kale a bit first, which could easily be done!

]]>0adminhttp://www.thesavvybostonian.com/?p=41302016-06-11T23:31:03Z2016-06-10T10:00:09ZOpium is one of those “blink and you could miss it” places. Located amid the hustle and bustle of Chinatown, I actually did miss it on my first few passes. However, once you climb up a few flights of stairs, all the find and seek is well worth it. Here’s why.

We ended up sitting in Peony, a special part of Opium with an innovative drink menu and cocktail bar.

As I was there way before my girlfriends, I started to chat with the lovely bartender and she made me a custom cocktail with gin, watermelon, raspberry and mint. Pure perfection!

For my second cocktail, I tried one a touch more creamy with apricot flavors. Also very good.

Opium is located at The jade door, 15-16 Gerrard St, Chinatown, London W1D 6JE. To look at the full drink menu at Opium, click here.